Prospective Investigation of Dietary Intakes and the Rate of Decline in Anti-Mullerian Hormone among Eumenorrheic Women

Backgrounds: Dietary factors have been suggested to affect timing of menopause based on some studies, which indirectly underscore the possibility that dietary intakes may influence ovarian aging. We aimed to investigate dietary intakes in relation to the rate of decline in anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), as a marker of ovarian aging.Material and method: This prospective investigation with up to 16 year of follow-up was conducted in 227 eumenorrheic women participants from the Tehran Lipid and Glucose study (TLGS). AMH was measured twice, at baseline and the 5th follow-up examination cycle, and yearly rate of decline in AMH was calculated. Fast decline in AMH was defined as the annual percent change AMH> 5.9%/year based on tertile 3 of the variable. Dietary intakes of 37 food groups, macronutrients from different sources of plant, dairy and non-dairy, fiber, lactose and free galactose was estimated using the food frequency questionnaires(FFQs). After adjusting for potential covariates, the association between dietary factors and both annual percent decline of AMH (as a continuous variable) and also risk of fast decline were examined using the Spearman correlation and logistic regression, respectively.Result: Annual rate of AMH decline was inversely correlated with dairy products, milk, fermented dairy, dairy carbohydrate, dairy fat, dairy protein, total calcium and dairy calcium, lactose and galactose, and positively correlated with organ meats. The odds of fast decline was reduced by 47% for dairy products (95% CIs= 0.36, 0.79; p=0.002), 38% for milk (95% CIs= 0.41, 0.93; p= 0.020), and 36% for fermented dairy (95%CIs=0.45, 0.93; p=0.018) per one standard deviation increase in their dietary intakes. The odds of fast decline in AMH was significantly reduced with higher intakes of fat, carbohydrate, protein, and calcium intakes from dairy sources, and lactose.Conclusion: Consumption of dairy foods may reduce the rate of AMH decline in regularly menstruating women.